Move to protect Bay detainee

LAWYERS for the three Bahraini detainees still at Guantanamo Bay have filed for a "temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction" against the American government on behalf of Juma Al Dossary.

They have based their request on allegations of maltreatment and poor camp conditions.

"Mr Al Dossary's recent suicide attempt is the direct result of his conditions of confinement," lawyers said in court documents filed with the US District Court of Columbia.

The documents include a "statement of facts", which details allegations of physical abuse, abusive interrogations and the religious and sexual humiliation of Al Dossary.

It also includes reported suicide attempts by Al Dossary and claims he will suffer "irreparable injury" if the injunction is denied.

The restraining order and injunction has been filed against US President "George Bush et al".

A temporary restraining order would grant immediate relief - allowing Al Dossary to make biweekly telephone calls to family and lawyers (subject to security measures), receive a DVD containing personal greetings from his family, receive reading material beyond the Quran, have increased exercise and physical recreation time, and lights and music in the cellblock turned off at night so he can sleep.

"They are small requests that could have a huge impact on his psychological well-being," attorney Christopher Karagheuzoff told the GDN yesterday.

The move follows an alleged suicide attempt by Al Dossary during the lawyers' last visit to the prison on October 15, which is also detailed in the court documents.

They describe how Al Dossary slashed his arm and tried to hang himself from the mesh wall of his cell after asking to go to the lavatory during an interview with lawyer Joshua Colangelo-Bryan.

Mr Al Dossary will suffer "irreparable injury" if this relief is denied, his lawyers warned in the court documents.

"The threat to Mr Al Dossary's psychiatric state and his life could not be graver or more immediate and that is far more than simply some danger of harm," they said.

They are asking for "modest relief" and "minimally humane conditions" for Al Dossary, which they say will keep him from killing himself.

The court document also states that almost two years without "any meaningful contact" with other human beings has had a severely negative effect on Al Dossary's mental health.

It alleges that when discussing his isolation with lawyers, Al Dossary asked "what can I do to keep myself from going crazy?".

It also argues that according to previous court rulings, a maximum of 30 days isolation is permissible.

Lawyers are also asking for permission to bring an independent medical professional to assess Al Dossary's psychiatric condition and slate the "gratuitous callousness" of the government's refusal to provide the legal team information on his medical state after his last suicide attempt.

"Mr Al Dossary is in grave need of help, but will not receive any absent an order of this court," lawyers say in the court documents.

"For all of the foregoing reasons, Mr Al Dossary respectfully requests that his application be granted."